Savannas cover about 20% of the Earth’s land area across a wide range of climatic conditions. As an important and distinct biome, savannas produce approximately 29% of global terrestrial net primary productivity. In these ecosystems the distribution of belowground resources remains poorly investigated and the relationship to the climatic conditions remains unclear. In the present study, vertica...

Nutrients are elements or compounds that are essential for the growth and survival of plants. Plants require large amounts of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg), but only small amounts of others such as boron (B), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and chlorine (Cl) (micronutrients)...

Grassland fire, as an important ecological factor, is quite influential in determining the structural and functional stability of ecosystem. In this work, the fire-induced changes on the vegetation and soil microbial community were studied in alpine meadow. Microbial community composition was assessed by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, and functional diversity was determined by Biolog ...

Soil health, along with water supply, is the most valuable resource for humans, as human life depends on the soil’s generosity. Soil degradation, therefore, poses a threat to food security, as it reduces yield, forces farmers to use more inputs, and may eventually lead to soil abandonment. Unfortunately, the importance of preserving soil health appears to be overlooked by policy makers. In this...

Burkholderia pseudomallei is a soil-dwelling bacterium and the cause of melioidosis, which kills an estimated 89,000 people per year worldwide. Agricultural workers are at high risk of infection due to repeated exposure to the bacterium. Little is known about the soil physicochemical properties associated with the presence or absence of the organism. Here, we evaluated the soil physicochemical ...

Microbial activity is known to continue during the winter months in cold alpine and Arctic soils often resulting in high microbial biomass. Complex soil nutrient dynamics characterize the transition when soil temperatures approach and exceed 0 1C in spring. At the time of this transition in alphine soils microbial biomass declines dramatically together with soil pools of available nutrients. Th...

Soils used for vegetable production in Florida are sandy, have low organic matter content and fertility, and can support the growth of soil-borne pathogens. Some growers choose to apply compost as an antagonistic suppression approach to combat soil-borne disease effects on crop yields or to increase organic matter and improve soil fertility. The objective of this on-farm study was to determine ...